i6 



NATURE 



[March 4, 1909 



• the House of Commons to-morrow (Friday). The Bill 

 represents the shape of the resurrection of a measure which 

 passed its second reading in the House a year ago, and 

 was referred to a select committee. The unscientific 

 •character of the proposal and the confusion which would 

 follow should the measure ever find a place in the Statute- 

 "book were stated clearly in Nature of July Q, 1908. To 

 the views expressed in that article most competent authori- 

 ties will subscribe. For the sake of history, we give the 

 substance of the measure, but it is difficult to believe that 

 the House of Commons will consent to the system of self- 

 deception which is advocated by the promoters of the Bill, 

 with complete disregard of the consequences. The 

 operative clauses of the Bill are as follows : — (i) From 

 two o'clock in the morning Greenwich mean time in the 

 case of Great Britain, and Dublin mean time in the case 

 of Ireland, of the third Sunday in April in each year until 

 two o'clock in the morning Greenwich mean time in the 

 case of Great Britain, and Dublin mean time in the case 

 of Ireland, of the third Sunday in September in each year 

 the local time shall be in the case of Great Britain one 

 hour in advance of Greenwich mean time and in the case 

 ol Ireland one hour in advance of Dublin mean time, and 

 from two o'clock in the morning Greenwich mean time in 

 the case of Great Britain, and Dublin mean time in the 

 case of Ireland, of the third Sunday in September in each 

 year until two o'clock in the morning Greenwich mean 

 time in the case of Great Britain, and Dublin mean time 

 in the case of Ireland, of the third Sunday in April in 

 each year the local time shall be in the case of Great 

 Britain the same as Greenwich mean time and in the case 

 of Ireland the same as Dublin mean time. (2) The time 

 hereby established shall be known as summer season time 

 in Great Britain and Ireland, and whenever any expression 

 of time occurs in any Act of Parliament, deed, or other 

 legal instrument, the time mentioned or referred to shall, 

 unless it is otherwise specifically stated, be held in the 

 case of Great Britain and Ireland to be summer season 

 time as prescribed by this Act. (3) Greenwich mean time 

 as used for the purposes of astronomy and navigation shall 

 not be affected by this Act. (4) This Act shall apply to 

 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and 

 may be cited as the Summer Season Time (Great Britain 

 and Ireland) Act, 1909. 



In the course of a paper published in vol. iv., Nos. i 

 and 2, of the Bio-chemical Journal on the relations of 

 •certain marine organisms to light," Prof. B. Moore directs 

 particular attention to the periodicity of their phosphor- 

 escence. That light from without influences this pheno- 

 menon is demonstrated by the fact that the periods of 

 activity and rest in regard to phosphorescence follow, re- 

 spectively, the hours of daylight and darkness. How deep- 

 seated is this periodicity has been demonstrated by experi- 

 ments on copepods, in which it persisted for no less than 

 twelve days in the absence of the accustomed recurring 

 stimulus of nocturnal darkness and diurnal light. It is 

 added that the phosphorescence of these copepods in cap- 

 tivity is spontaneous, and although increased by mechanical 

 stimulation, goes on vigorously even when the organisms 

 are at rest and undisturbed. 



The February number of the Zoologist contains a re- 

 markably interesting account, by Mr. H. \V. Bell-Marley, 

 of hunting the hump-backed whale in Natal waters. For 

 some years it has been observed that between May and 

 August large numbers of hump-backs pass between Natal 

 and the Dclagoa Bay coast, and in May, 1908, some enter- 

 prising Norwegians obtained permission to set up a 

 NO. 2053, VOL. 80] 



whaling-station on the Bluff side of the channel. Their 

 success may be judged from the fact that between July 

 and the earlv part of September no fewer than one hundred 

 and two hump-backs and two rorquals were taken. The 

 supply is, however, not exhausted, as the writer describes 

 steaming into the midst of a school of about a score of 

 these monsters, the movements and gambols of which 

 afforded a most wonderful and thrilling spect.acle. Never- 

 theless, such vigorous fishing cannot long be carried on 

 without seriously diminishing the numbers of the whales, 

 and Mr. Bell-Marley is of opinion that, if their extermina- 

 tion is to be prevented, action ought forthwith to be taken 

 by the Colonial Government. 



An interesting pamphlet, written by Mr. H. A. Ballou, 

 has just been issued by the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture for the West Indies on " millions " and mosqui- 

 toes. Millions are small fishes, the full-grown female 

 measuring about I5 inches in length, while the male Is 

 much smaller ; they belong to the species Girardinus, the 

 particular variety dealt with in the pamphlet 'being 

 G. poeciloides, De Filippi. They live in shallow water, 

 and are such voracious feeders on the eggs, larvse, and 

 pupse of mosquitoes that these insects are unable to breed 

 in streams and ponds stocked with them. They commonly 

 occur in Barbadoes, and in consequence the Anopheles 

 mosquito, which disseminates malaria and breeds only in 

 shallow streams, pools, or marshes, has never been able 

 to spread, and Barbadoes is free from mal.aria. The 

 Imperial Department has since 1905 made shipments of 

 these fishes to several West India islands, and from all 

 sources favourable reports have been received. At Antigua 

 the Board of Health has undertaken the work of stocking 

 all the ponds and streams, and the mosquito nuisance has 

 abated in consequence. It is pointed out, however, that 

 certain varieties of mosquitoes, e.g. Culex fatigans and 

 Stegomyia fasciata, breed in small temporary collections 

 of water, such as those found on house-tops, in rain-water 

 tanks, bottles, the concavities of leaves, &c., and will 

 therefore escape destruction by the " millions." 



Darwin and the mutation theory form the theme of the 

 opening article, by Mr. C. F. Co.x, in the February number 

 of the American Naturalist. After mentioning that the 

 great evolutionist would not have accepted, at least in its 

 entirety, the mutation theory of de Vries, the author states 

 that " he was compelled to concede that what we now call 

 mutation had occasionally taken place and become the 

 starting point of new races, but he was none the less 

 unshaken in the conviction that this process was excep- 

 tional and extraordinary, and that, as a rule, a new species 

 originated by the gradual building up of minute and even 

 insignificant deviations from the average characters of an 

 old species. . . . For the doctrine of ' insensible grada- 

 tions,' which touched mainly a minor premise in his 

 general argument for evolution, Mr. Darwin was almost 

 willing to relinquish the essence of the whole matter, which 

 was his claim to the discovery of a vera causa in the 

 evolutionary process. . . . The establishment of the theory 

 of natural selection was Mr. Darwin's greatest and most 

 original achievement. Time has proved that he could have 

 afforded to stand upon the general validity of this theory, 

 though everything in his argument in its favour had needed 

 review and modification. . . . Properly regarded, the muta- 

 tion theory does not antagonise or weaken the doctrine of 

 natural selection — on the contrary, it merely offers itself 

 as a helpful substitute for, or adjunct to, one of Darwin's 

 subordinate steps in the approach to a consistent philo- 

 sophy of the origin of species, leaving the great cause of 



